HSBC faces accusations that it helped to enrich senior Egyptian political and business figures now at the centre of corruption investigations.

More than a dozen former associates of ousted president Hosni Mubarakare facing trial, as Egyptian investigators focus on allegations that land and state-owned industrial assets were sold at knockdown prices in a process the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says was secretive.

Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a not-for-profit body based at London's City University, has concluded that HSBC:

■ raised more than £450m for two of Egypt's biggest and most controversial property developers now embroiled in corruption court cases (shares in those companies have subsequently dived);

■ was the most active European investment bank in Egypt;

■ had on its Egyptian board two directors who in 2004 went on to become ministers of state overseeing land sales and privatisations under Mubarak.